Story ID: GPhawaiianstrike05182016
Hawaiian Airlines Pilots Authorize Strike
By: Gregory Polek
Caption: 99 percent of voting pilots support work action
Word Count: 296
Hawaiian Airlines pilots voted Tuesday to authorize their Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) representatives to call a strike if contract talks do not result in a new collective bargaining agreement. Almost 98 percent of the pilot group voted, and of those, 99 percent voted to support the strike ballot, which opened on April 25.

“This vote shows the deep anger our pilots feel toward their senior management,” said Hoon Lee, chairman of the ALPA unit at Hawaiian Airlines. “We absolutely do not want to go on strike, but if that’s what it takes to get a market-rate contract, our pilots have told us loud and clear that they will stand together and take that final step.”

Pilots cheered when Lee and other ALPA leaders announced the voting results at a rally near Honolulu International Airport Wednesday. The pilots plan to hold an informational picket at the airport on May 25. 

Before a strike can legally happen, the National Mediation Board (NMB) must first deem an effort to further mediate unproductive and extend an offer to arbitrate the dispute. If either side declines arbitration, the parties enter a 30-day “cooling off” period before an actual strike action or company lockout. The NMB has scheduled no further mediation sessions past June.

The pilots’ contract became amendable last September. ALPA and Hawaiian management began contract talks in May of last year and began working with a NMB mediator in January 2016.

“At a time when Hawaiian is making more money than ever before, our management stubbornly refuses to share those profits with the employees who earned them,” Lee said. ”Our patience is at an end and we demand a market-rate contract that recognizes our contributions to this airline’s astounding success.”